Sarah, Newt Don't Get the First Amendment

What is up with politicians misrepresenting the First Amendment this week? First Newt Gingrich, arguing against the Ground Zero Mosque, claimed Nazis "don't have the right" to put a sign next to the Holocaust museum. Then Sarah Palin tweeted that N-word-spewing Dr. Laura’s “1st Amend.rights ceased 2exist thx 2activists trying 2silence.” Sorry, but neither of you understand the First Amendment, say two columnists:

• Nazis do, in fact, have the right to put up that hypothetical sign, because “the government can’t silence a speaker based on the content of his message without a really, really good reason,” writes Brian Palmer on Slate. Yes, the government can make “reasonable restrictions on the time, place, and manner of speech,” but not the viewpoint.
• As for Palin, well, “a person's rights to freedom of speech are not violated by vigorous criticism or public condemnation,” Max Read points out in a snarky Gawker post. But Palin seems to believe that “the First Amendment endows every American with the right to host a radio show, and to use the N-word without ever being criticized.”

(More First Amendment stories.)